Two of the NHL's lowest-ranked teams clash tonight in the Scotiabank Saddledome with both of their playoff chances rapidly fading from sight. The Calgary Flames (12-15-4, 4.1% playoff chance) host the Colorado Avalanche (11-6-4, 0.8% playoff chance) at 8pm on TSN and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

The Flames are coming off a disappointing 2-0 loss last night in Chicago and are an uneven 3-7-0 in their last ten, but they're riding a seven-game winning streak at home. The Avs have been idle since a 3-2 loss to Vancouver on Sunday, but are equally poor (3-7-0) lately and boast one of the NHL's worst road records at 2-10-3. They're the only NHL club worse than Calgary on the road.

With two teams playing mostly for pride now, it'll be very interesting to see how this one plays out – particularly with the Avs playing for Seth Jones now and the Flames trying to keep their faint mathematical playoff hopes alive. Colorado has won the first two meetings between the teams this season by scores of 6-3 and 5-4.

THE LINE-UP

The Flames got absolutely slammed with shots against Chicago, getting out-gunned 35-16 and being on their heels the entire time. But that was a road game, and the Flames seem to have a strange confidence about them in home games. Things just seem to go well.

Given that it's the back-end of a back-to-back, the Flames didn't have a full morning skate (it was an optional) and line combinations are now guess-work. Here's how they lined up at the end of their game against Chicago:

Glencross-Backlund-Iginla

Tanguay-Cervenka-Cammalleri

Hudler-Stajan-Stempniak

Comeau-Begin-Jackman

Brodie – Bouwmeester

Giordano – Wideman

Butler – Sarich

Kiprusoff

As per Pat Steinberg's Twitter (and the Flames), Miikka Kiprusoff will sit after being shelled with shots over his last two games. Joey MacDonald will suit up in his stead. Also, expect some line-up changes given the back-to-back. I'd wager that Brian McGrattan and Derek Smith will sneak back into the line-up, but that's just me guessing.

THE OPPOSITION

Like the Flames, the Avalanche are coming off of a loss that was worse than the score reflected – a 3-2 setback on Sunday against the Canucks. Colorado also lost two key parts of their line-up to injury – forward Paul Statsny and defender Ryan Wilson.

Here's their lines as of the end of the Vancouver game:

McGinn-Duchene-Parenteau

Olver-O'Reilly-Landeskog

McLeod-Mitchell-Hejduk

Bordeleau-Stastny-Kobasew

Zanon-Hejda

Johnson-Hunwick

O'Brien-Wilson

Giguere

I'd expect Semyon Varlamov to start, Tyson Barrie to replace the injured Wilson and either David Jones or Aaron Palushaj to replace Statsny. The Avs remain a fairly talented team that has really, really underachieved this year. They've also had to deal with some injuries and absences, but thankfully (for them) Ryan O'Reilly is back and getting his legs under him with three goals and 11 points in 12 games (yay).

SUM IT UP

It's beyond crunch time. Wins are needed to stay alive. The Flames will have to play a smart game to play a rested Colorado team, particularly coming off a very disappointing performance against Chicago. Of course, on the

Only three games remain until the trade deadline.

UPDATE - Jarome Iginla won't play tonight. That means he will likely be moved within the next 24 hours.

Ryan Pike has covered the Calgary Flames since 2010. He's Senior Contributing Editor at FlamesNation, a Senior Writer covering the Flames and the NHL Draft for The Hockey Writers, and a correspondent for the Fischler Report. You can see his hand or the side of his head on TV sometimes.

I'm calling tonight's game as Iggy's last...I think Feaster pulls the trigger before puck drop on Friday. There's a fine line between being patient and driving up the price and holding other GM's hostage. The teams that lose out on Iggy will need time to work other deals... Accoriding to Chiarelli on Boston radio:

“I can tell you this: I’m not trading Malcolm Subban,” Chiarelli said. “He’s young. He’s a very good goalie prospect and I see him in our future and being a big part of our future. We’ve got some goalie depth, but I’m telling you I’m not trading Malcolm Subban. There are other players, and we’ve got a fairly well-stocked cupboard of prospects, but I’m not trading Malcolm Subban.”

This is fine with me since Subban is redundant for the Flames. I still think Boston is the team however... So I'm going with Spooner, Khochlachev and a 1st.

I mean I get why they are doing it and all.
But if they don't give us a chance to give good ol' Iggy one last standing ovation I might have to fly to Boston (Or wherever he lands) myself and give him a standing ovation every time he takes a shift.

How do people feel about Peverley coming back? I know he hasn't had a great season, neither have many of the other Bruins, but I remember when I saw him play I was always impressed with how fast he was, and his acceleration was like 3 strides and gone. Just saying I wouldn't mind him as a flame.